u/Xencota

I decided to treat myself to a midnight instant pot of KO-LEE Korean Kimchi Noodle, which I find to be a pleasant heat.

I opened the pot to find TWO seasoning packets as well as the vegetable packet. Having not had these in a few weeks, I genuinely could not remember if there should be one or two powder sachets. So I did what any sane person would do and dumped both into the noodles. I had made a Sticky Rib Pot Noodle only two days ago, which ALSO had two sauce packets so I found it hard to believe the same thing would happen again.

I was wrong. Now I’m suffering through a highly concentrated broth of fire. Still delicious, but my spice tolerance is on the low side at the moment. I know I could dilute it with more water, but for my own stupidity and naivety I will suffer.

It’s my mums 60th birthday next month, and she sadly lost her own mother a few months ago.

I think she would appreciate a book that is heartfelt and full of ups and downs, where she could relate, laugh, smile and cry a little.

I’ll also get her a detective crime thriller so it’s not all sad, so if you have any suggestions for one of those, they’re welcome too!

I’m late to the party, I know.

I see this one raved about a lot, but I was so disappointed. I felt like the first half of the book was full of repetitive “you’ll see” moments, alluding to the mystery but giving not even a crumb of genuine information to move the plot along. The characters were so underdeveloped; I knew little of any of them aside from hints at the big “mystery”.

People who have read it will know there are a lot of twists in the last 50 or so pages. I guessed two of those (normally I don’t like trying to work out the twists as I’d rather the book just flowed through them) and the other twists weren’t much of a shocker. Fair play to Riley for being able to keep track of all that when writing though!

I really enjoyed House Across the Lake, and Home Before Dark was good too. This was just, well, meh.

This also reminded me a bit of The Hudson Family series by V.C. Andrew’s (which I absolutely adore) so maybe compared to it, this just feels lacklustre. And the fact there was a character named Virginia seems less of a coincidence.